What To Expect

Welcome to Elmsdale Vision Centre! Our friendly staff will call 2-3 days before your eye exmination to remind you of your appointment time and they will greet you when you arrive that day. Upon booking you appointment you will be requested to bring a copy of your current medications, your health card, your eyewear (both sun wear and indoor eyewear) and private health insurance. You can present these items at our reception area and, once checked in, feel free to browse our selection of stylish frames or have a seat in our waiting area. One of our staff will call your name shortly for a pretest.

The Pretest:

Prior to seeing the doctor we will have our staff conduct a “pretest”. Your pretester will ask a number of questions and conduct a few specialized tests that give very useful information to your doctor as well as reduce wait times. On average, this takes about 5 minutes, after which feel free to continue browsing our frame selection or have a seat in our secondary waiting area.

The Examination:

Once pretested, your doctor will call you into the exam room to start your eye examination. The doctors at Elmsdale Vision Centre are highly trained in assessing you visual status, binocular vision and overall eye health. These factors paired with your occupation, age and visual needs are used during a “refraction” to determine a prescription that is tailored to each individual patient. Your doctor will also recommend certain corrective lenses and/or frames that will compliment your needs and preferences. Once the vision and prescription has been assessed, you can expect an ocular health examination, usually in the form of detailed inspection with a “slit lamp”, a specialized microscope for the eyes. Some patients may require a “dilation” where medicated drops are used to dilate the pupils allowing the doctor to see inside the eyes more efficiently. Dilating drops take approximately 15-20 minutes to dilate the pupil, so you can expect to wait a short time should your doctor recommend this assessment. Certain populations can expect this dilation with most visits, including those with diabetes, those with very near sighted prescriptions and the aging population. These groups are at risk for problems with their eyes that are more easily identified with this assessment.

The Selection Process:

Once the examination is completed, your doctor will escort you to our dispensary where your prescription, needs and recommendations for frames and lenses will be discussed with one of our highly trained opticians. Your optician will help guide you through the process of selecting a frame and lenses that work with your lifestyle and budget, and will take any necessary measurements that are vital to ensuring your Elmsdale Vision Centre glasses are perfectly tailored to you. Once you have finalized your selection we will send the frame and measurements to one of our partnered labs and you will be notified when your complete glasses have arrived back at our clinic for fitting. Your glasses are rechecked by our staff once we have received them to ensure accuracy that meets our standard and then refit when you pick them up to ensure crisp vision and ease of use.

We thank you for choosing Elmsdale Vision Centre look forward to providing comprehensive eye care for you and your family for many years to come.